Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: biotech/medical – Page 172

Genome editing enables mice to produce their own weight-loss drug for months

Weight-loss drugs have surged in popularity, promising rapid results with regular injections. Now, researchers from Japan report a way for the body to make its own weight-loss drugs, doing away with injections in favor of a one-time treatment.

In the study, “Targeted In Vivo Gene Integration of a Secretion-Enabled GLP-1 receptor agonist Reverses Diet-induced Non-genetic Obesity and Pre-diabetes,” published in Communications Medicine, researchers from the University of Osaka reveal a modified genome editing approach to tackle noncommunicable, multifaceted diseases.

The approach introduced a new protein-coding gene, rather than attempting to correct a mutation in an existing gene and could be the key to lifelong effective weight management.

Universal stem cells reset immunity in a systemic sclerosis patient

Research led by Naval Medical University’s Changzheng Hospital in China reports that an off-the-shelf cell therapy built from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) loosened life-limiting skin and organ scarring in a woman with systemic sclerosis.

Systemic sclerosis progressively suffocates tissue through immune misfires, collapsed micro-vessels, and runaway collagen conditions that resist standard immunosuppressants, biologics, and anti-fibrotic drugs while driving a 40% 10-year mortality.

Cell-based approaches such as hematopoietic-stem-cell transplants and CAR-T therapies have shown promise but carry high toxicity or labor-intensive custom manufacturing, leaving clinicians and patients in search of safer, more accessible tools.

Helicobacter pylori eradication and gastric cancer prevention in a pooled analysis of large-scale cohort studies in Japan

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylo ri) infection is an established cause of gastric cancer. Although H. pylo ri eradication is suggested to decrease gastric cancer risk, this has not been fully investigated in general populations. This analysis included 48,530 Japanese men and women aged 40–74 years from four cohort studies. At baseline, the participants provided a self-reported eradication history and serum anti–H. pylo ri IgG titers and the results of a pepsinogen (PG) test. We examined the association between eradication history and gastric cancer risk considering H. pylo ri positivity and PG testing using Cox proportional hazards regression models. From 2010 to 2,018,649 gastric cancer cases were diagnosed. Compared with those who were negative for both H. pylo ri and PG test as a reference, gastric cancer risk was 5.89 times higher (95%CI: 4.41–7.87) in those who were H. pylo ri-positive and/or PG test-positive and with no eradication at baseline. Gastric cancer risk among those who underwent eradication before baseline decreased after a temporal increase in risk following eradication (baseline to 1y: HR 1.74, 95%CI 1.18–2.57; 1y to Ono, A., Tanaka, S., Sawada, N. et al. Sci Rep 15, 21,307 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-00713-z.

Download citation.

From Classical Breeding to Modern Biotechnological Advancement in Horticultural Crops — Trait Improvement and Stress Resilience, volume II

This study puts forward a machine vision-based prediction method to solve the problem regarding the measurement of traits in shiitake mushroom caps during th…

Neanderthal DNA could be the cause of some modern brain malformations

If you regularly experience headaches, dizziness, balance problems and blurred vision, our Neanderthal cousins could be to blame.

These are common symptoms of Chiari malformations, structural defects in which the lower part of the brain extends into the spinal cord. People with this condition have skulls shaped like those of our ancient relatives, leading to a hypothesis (known as the Archaic Homo Introgression Hypothesis) that it may be a genetic legacy from interbreeding between and Neanderthals.

To investigate this, Kimberly Plomp of the University of the Philippines Diliman and colleagues zeroed in on Chiari 1, the mildest form of the condition, which affects around 1 in 100 people.

Measuring individual radioactive decays enables faster detection method for nuclear applications

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a new and faster method for detecting and measuring the radioactivity of minuscule amounts of radioactive material. The innovative technique, known as cryogenic decay energy spectrometry (DES), could have far-reaching impacts, from improving cancer treatments to ensuring the safety of nuclear waste cleanup.

The NIST team has published its results in Metrologia.

The key to this novel technique is a transition-edge sensor (TES), a high-tech device widely used to measure radiation signatures. TES provides a revolutionary capability to record individual radioactive decay events, in which an unstable atom releases one or more particles. By building up data from many individual decays, researchers can then identify which unstable atoms, known as radionuclides, produce the events.

Spin as an input parameter: Machine learning predicts magnetic properties of materials

Magnetic materials are in high demand. They’re essential to the energy storage innovations on which electrification depends and to the robotics systems powering automation. They’re also inside more familiar products, from consumer electronics to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines.

Current sources and supply chains won’t be able to keep up as demand continues to grow. We need to design new , and quickly.

A collaboration between Carnegie Mellon University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft is broadening capabilities to screen potential new materials with machine learning models.

/* */